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They’re doing very little, if anything, to put some space between themselves and the teams chasing them.

“We’ve got to get a streak going,” said defenceman Morgan Rielly. “We need to get a couple in a row. We need to collect points. And use those games-in-hand.

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“To do that, you need to find what’s working, you need to stick with it, you’ve got to build off it for an extended period of time. You can’t do it one night, then take the next night off. We have to find a way to do it consistently.” The Leafs, lately, have been consistently inconsistent. World beaters against the Islanders, a soft touch to the Blue Jackets.

A playoff spot is on the line, as well as seeding, and the Leafs are finding every game matters. And as a wild-card team, they’re the ones with the target on their back. That’s a refreshing change for the organization and its fan base, but it’s new territory for the players.

“Teams play us different. They know we can compete,” said winger Leo Komarov. “It’s not like last year. It’s way harder. What it comes down to is big games and big points we’re playing for.”

It’s true they are a young, inexperienced team. None of their youngsters have been through a rigorous playoff race in recent years at any level:

Mitch Marner’s London Knights made the OHL playoffs with no trouble in his time there.

Auston Matthews — a product of the U.S. National Development team with a fixed schedule — really hasn’t been part of a playoff race in his life. Even his Swiss team last year made their league playoffs with no trouble.

Ditto the Marlies, featuring most of the rest of the rookie cast like William Nylander and Connor Brown.

The young players are learning what a playoff race is like at the NHL level.

“It’s been a while, maybe minor hockey,” said Marner. “I never really felt like this. It’s fun. It feels good. Everyone is ready to go. We all know what it comes down to.”

But it’s not just the young players with little playoff race experience.

The Leaf veterans — outside of Matt Martin and Frederik Andersen — don’t have much playoff race experience, either. Tyler Bozak, James van Riemsdyk, Nazem Kadri, Leo Komarov and Jake Gardiner have been in one playoff series together in 2013. The next year, with Rielly by then on the team, the team experienced a monumental collapse over the last 14 games (2-12-0) to drop from a top-three perch to 23rd overall.

“All guys need to learn,” said Komarov. “It’s not just about the young guys. As a team we need to be better.”

So how do they get on a roll like they were on in December and January?

“That’s a good question,” said Komarov.

“Work practise hard, dial in,” said Rielly. “Focus. Do whatever it is we have to to get our game back. That has to do with paying the right way, working hard for one another, and working hard in practice and be ready for games.

“We have the skill, we know how to do it, it’s just a matter of executing.”

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